Replying to Anne Philbrick’s Aug. 23 letter, “What majority was polled on abortion?,” which was in response to my Aug. 2 letter on same topic.
The very day that SCOTUS overturned our almost 50-year-old federal right to abortion, thousands of people marched to protest the decision in Portland. Large protests took place in York and Lewiston as well. The views of Mainers regarding abortion were widely covered by the media around this time. (I am an avid consumer of local and national news.) At no point did anyone conclude that a majority of Mainers were in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. It would be unimaginable here. Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, 64% of adults in Maine say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. A New York Times article looking at the same issue and using data from Public Religion Research Institute, the Pew Research Center and the Guttmacher Institute, puts Maine in the category of states that support abortion by over 10 percentage points. Even in ruby red Kansas, a proposal for a state constitutional amendment that would have taken away their right to abortion was defeated by 59% “no” to 41% “yes.”
The “throngs” of people who showed up in Augusta to protest L.D. 1619, while very determined and outspoken, do not represent the majority opinion in the state by anyone’s measure as far as I know. This bill allows abortions at any time if deemed medically necessary by a doctor. If Philbrick knows of a poll that claims that the majority of women in that position want the government, instead, to make this decision, please provide a reference. I have never met a single woman that wants anyone but herself to decide if and when she gives birth.
Nancy O’Hagan
Portland
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